Review – Lies Like Love by Louisa Reid

I have recently read this wonderful book Lies Like Love by the always awesome Louisa Reidand adored it! I am completely over the moon to be part of the wonderful blog tour for this book! This book made my heart ache and its memory will definitely be staying with me for a long time to come!

For my stop on the blog tour I am going to share my thoughts on the book and post a review!

A huge thank you to Faye Rogers and Louisa Reid for having me on this wonderful tour and for sending me the book to read.

Don’t forget to check out the awesome giveaway at the bottom of the post!

LIES

‘There were a few problems . . . bullying . . . a fire . . .’

LIKE

I think she’s verging on psychosis . . . now she’s lashing out.

LOVE

She’s got no one else to fight for her.’ Sixteen year-old Audrey just wants to be normal. She’s trying to fit in. But what happens when the person closest to you suffocates you with their love? What happens then?

Publisher – Penguin

Published – 3rd July 2014

Pages – 457 pages

Format – Paperback

Category – UK YA, YA Contemporary

Source – I was sent a copy of this book by the wonderful author Louisa Reidas part of the blog tour. This does not affect my review or my opinions in any way and am delighted to write an honest review. Thank you Louisa for sending this to me to read!

** Please note Tales Of Yesterday Reviews are written as spoiler free as possible**

I have to be honest I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this book. The blurb sounded mysterious and something I would enjoy, the cover being intriguing and beautiful and having met the author,Louisa Reid, a couple of times now and knowing she is always so lovely and awesome that all these things combined made me super excited to read this book! What I didn’t expect was to be completely blown away by this book, its imagery, themes….each page hooked me in, making me turn the pages quickly and making me not want to put this book down!

Lies Like Loves tells the story of Audrey, her brother Peter, her Mum Lorraine and a boy called Leo. Audrey has recently moved into the area and into a house called The Grange, but Audrey is not well suffering from depression and self harming and her Mum is trying to care for her and make her better. Audrey is trying to take care of her little brother Peter whilst settling into a new school. That’s where she meets Leo, who is living with his aunt Sue in a cottage not far from The Grange. But with Audrey’s Mum wanting to protect and care for her daughter will Audrey ever be free to make friends, grow and love? Will she ever be able to free herself from The Thing that is holding her back and making her unwell?

I can honestly say that my little summary above probably cannot do this book justice! Louisa Reid writes so beautifully it reads like a fountain pen flowing from the page! The descriptions and imagery of Audrey’s world she is living in is both beautifully written and horrifyingly suffocating even more so as the book progresses.

Mental health issues are tackled sensitively and honestly in this book, depression and self harm. Bullying plays a part also and highlights the stigmas that people face with regards to mental health issues. But Louisa Reid also explores Love and its many different aspects and forms. The good and the bad. The butterflies and the storms! The love of a partner and being loved back and the feelings that love may bring. The love of a sibling, unconditional and protective. The love of a mother and tells the story of a relationship between mother and daughter….and Louisa Reid creates a memorable mother in Lorraine, and not in a good way! *shivers*

My feelings for Audrey’s mother Lorraine changed a lot throughout the book….at points I thought I had it all wrong and then at other points I was shocked and disturbed! You will have to read the book to truly understand these feelings, but just…..no words!

The relationship that builds between Audrey and Leo….my heart aches!

One of my favourite parts of the book was when Leo takes Audrey to the fair and then later on into London. My heart raced with them and I could feel their love growing page after page! I could feel how free Audrey felt when she was with Leo and as I reader I yearned for Audrey to be happy and like she felt in these moments throughout the rest of the book! There’s a moment when at the fair they go on the Waltzers and I could almost feel Audrey’s happiness and all her troubles being spun away!

I also adored Peter, Audrey’s younger brother and her unselfish determination to protect him at any length or cost! Their relationship was one of the best brother and sister relationships I’ve ever read. I loved them as much as I loved Laureth and Benjamin’s relationship in Marcus Sedgwick’s She Is Not Invisible!

There are a lot of references to Shakespeare in Lies Like Love and it fitted in perfectly. Audrey and Leo’s relationship was very much similar to Romeo and Juliet and I would guess that Louisa Reid has a huge passion for Shakespeare as I could feel her admiration through her words. I may be very wrong here though! 🙂

I have so many feelings for this book and whilst reading this book! I think I covered the whole spectrum of feelings in one book! Even thinking about it now makes my heart ache in both sorrow and joy….a real emotional rollercoaster!

What an achievement this book is! Why have I not read it before now! I will be racing out to by Louisa’s other book Black Heart Blue asap and I’m sure I will love that as much as Lies Like Love. I cannot wait to find out what’s next from Louisa! Up there with the best of our home-grown British authors! #UKYA !

I met Louisa recently at a couple of events one being #UKYAExtravaganza where I ran some quick fire questions past Louisa and some other UKYA authors!

About Louisa Reid

Louisa Reid is a writer and teacher living on the Fen Edge. Her debut novel, BLACK HEART BLUE was published in 2012 by Penguin and was shortlisted for the North East Teen Book Award and longlisted for the Carnegie and Branford Boase awards. Her second novel, LIES LIKE LOVE was published in July 2014 by Penguin.

Have you read Lies Like Love? What did you think? Have you read Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid? I would love to hear from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of the page or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy !

I am often known to be a bit clumsy and a little loopy! Book loving (obsessed), theatre loving, slasher film loving csi geek!
Winner of UKYABA Champion Newcomer 2015 and nominated for Champion of Social Media 2016 and Blogger Of The Year 2016!

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6 thoughts on “Review – Lies Like Love by Louisa Reid”

I loved this book so much. Like you, I feel the need to read Black Heart Blue right away. I really liked how she handled everything in this book, especially the issues Leo had because I think they are pretty relatable for a lot of people around the age of these characters.